TH&TOYSHOP 

MAUD LINDSAY 








































































































































































THE TOY SHOP 


Books bg 

MAUD LINDSAY 


A STORY GARDEN for Little Children 

Illustrated, $1.25 

THE STORY-TELLER for Little Children 

Illustrated in colors, $1.25 


BORRY AND THE BIG ROAD 

Illusirated in colors, $1.50 


LITTLE MISSY 


Illustrated in colors, $1.50 


SILVERFOOT 


Illustrated in colors, $1.50 


THE TOY SHOP 


Illustrated, $1.50 


By maud LINDSAY and 
EMILIE POULSSON 

THE JOYOUS TRAVELERS 

Illustrated in colors and black-and-white, $2.00 

THE JOYOUS GUESTS Illustrated in colors, $2.00 





iTHETOYSHOPj 

by I 

MAUD LINDSAY 



Illustrated by 

Florerv.ce Liley Yourxg 

LOTHROP, LEE SHEPARD CO. 

BOSTON ; , 




















Copyright, 1926, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 
All rights reserved 


The Toy Shop 



IRorwooO lprc00 

BERWICK & SMITH CO. 

NORWOOD, MASS. 

U. 8. A. 


SEP'2776 


© Cl A949213 




Dedicated to 


William, Robert, Winston, Lindsay, 
AND WEE Elizabeth. 







CONTENTS 


PAOB 

The Toy Shop.. . , 13 

The Toys.16 

The Pony-Reins.22 

The Smallest Doll.29 

The Two Rocking-Horses .38 

The White Swan.47 

The Ball That Went to a Party .... 53 

The Block Tower.60 

The Blue-and-Gold Tea-Set.63’ 

The Little Ball.71 

The Gay Tin Horn.78 

The Building-Blocks.85 

The Big Balloons.92 

The Surprise Box.97 

The Green Wagon with Red Wheels . .103 

The Velocipede .ni 


7 

















8 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Toy Farm.120 

The Four Toys.132 

The Christmas Tops.138 

The Merry Drum.145 

At the Toy Shop Door.152 







ILLUSTRATIONS 


A little old lady with silvery hair and twinkling 

eyes kept the shop (Page 14) . Frontispiece 


FACING 

PAGK 

All day long and every day people came to buy 

the toys.19 

All the morning the ponies were galloping or 

resting in the stable . .... 27 

“Is it as pretty as yours?” she asked • • • • 35 

“There, oh, there shall a babykin ride. 

With two white horses side by side” ... 41 

She held it so high that the little sister could not 
reach it.51 

“Put on your thinking-caps, one and all. 

What can you do with a rubber ball?” • • • 55 

“It’s taller than I am,” called the little boy . . 63 

“Will you have your Cambric Tea with one 

Ruffle or two?”.67 

There was no end to the fun they had • • • 73 

9 







10 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

PACINO 

It was no fun to have a horn unless you could 

blow it.81 

Just then Mother took the basket of blocks from 

the shelf.87 

“Watch out!” said a big jolly policeman . . 95 

Up jumped a little man dressed all in yellow . loi 

I wish you could have seen the beautiful tree he 

brought home.109 

Mother heard the front door opened and shut 

ever so quietly.117 

Mrs. O’Flanagan took the dime from her pocket 

and gave it to the twins.123 

The Toy-Lady always knew how to please chil¬ 
dren .137 

Still turning on its one little toe.143 

“We are having a parade. Don’t you want to 

be in it?”.149 

“ ‘Open to-morrow.’ That’s what the card 

says.”.155 









THE TOY SHOP 



THE TOY SHOP 


THE TOY SHOP 


O NCE upon a time on a quiet street in 
an old city there was a Toy Shop. 

It was in a basement and you had 
to go down four steps to the door, but the shop 
window could be seen very plainly from the 
sidewalk. And there was never a day that 
some one did not stop to look at it. 

One day it might be filled with bright bal¬ 
loons that were like great colored lights; and 
the next with jumping-jacks. Sometimes a 
toy farm with a little red house, and trees and 


13 



14 THE TOY SHOP 

horses and cows and chickens, were set out on 
the window shelf. Sometimes white woolly 
sheep stood there in green-paper grass; or per¬ 
haps there might be a long line of comical yel¬ 
low ducks-on-wheels. 

But no matter how the window was 

jt 

trimmed, it was as pretty as a picture in a story¬ 
book. No sooner had any one seen it than he 
wanted to go into the shop. 

A little old lady with silvery hair and pleas¬ 
ant twinkling eyes kept the Toy Shop, and all 
the children called her the Toy-Lady. They 
were great friends with her, too. Nobody 
knew more about toys than she did, they 
thought. 

She could spin the tops and run the trains 
and blow up the balloons and play on the doll- 
pianos. She knew all about children, too. 


THE TOY SHOP 15 

If, as often happened, she were asked; 
“What would you buy for a little boy?” or 
“What do you think would please a little 
girl?” she could tell you the very thing. 

Everybody liked to buy toys from her, and 
whoever went to the Toy Shop once was almost 
sure to go again. 


















THE TOYS 


N OW one autumn when people were 
beginning to think about Christmas 
and to get ready for it, the Toy Shop 
was filled with toys. 

There were big rubber balls and middle- 
sized balls and little balls; and every one of 
them could bounce higher than a man’s head. 

And there were dolls, the most beautiful 
that you can imagine. Some of them were al¬ 
most as large as a real baby; and the smallest 
doll was no longer than the Toy-Lady’s finger. 
But she could stand alone. 

There were tea-sets, too. The prettiest one 
was blue with gold bands around every little 

i6 


THE TOYS 17 

cup and saucer and plate. And the sugar- 
bowl and cream-pitcher and tea-pot had gold 
on their handles, as well. 

All the little girls who came to the Toy Shop 
looked with longing eyes at the blue-and-gold 
tea-set. 

There was a green wagon with red wheels, 
the only one in the shop, because wagons take 
up so much room that the Toy-Lady had to 
sell one before she got another. 

Boys liked the wagon, and they liked the 
pony-reins, with jingling bells. The Toy- 
Lady had plenty of those! 

She had velocipedes and sleds, too, and 
rocking-horses; two beautiful white ones with 
a little seat between them where a child could 
sit and ride. 

Or if you liked.toys that make music, you 


18 THE TOY SHOP 

could find them all at the Toy Shop; gay tin 
horns striped blue-and-silver, French harps 
and doll-pianos, merry drums and music- 
boxes. The music-boxes played tiny tinkling 
tunes that sounded like little birds twittering 
and chirping or like little brooks running over 
pebbles. 

Then there was a box, fastened tight, that 
had a surprise in it, and what the surprise was 
you shall know by and by. 

But now you must hear about the white por¬ 
celain swan with its beautiful arching neck. 
It looked as if it had come straight from 
Fairyland. In the Toy Shop it sat on a make- 
believe lake, which was a looking-glass with 
little shells all around it; but the swan could 
float in water. 

All the toys that you can name were in the 



All Day Long, and Every Day, People Came to Buy the 

Toys. Page 21 
19 






































































































































THE TOYS 21 

Toy Shop: pin-wheels that whirled, banks to 
keep money in, blocks to biiild with, big tin 
tops that sang like great sleepy bees when they 
spun, dozens and dozens of marbles, and 
many another toy besides. 

When they were all in place on the shelves 
and counter and table and floor, and the win¬ 
dow was trimmed her very best, the Toy-Lady 
was proud of the Toy Shop. 

Then oh, how busy she was! All day long, 
and every day, people came tip-tap down the 
little stair to buy the toys. 


THE PONY-REINS 


A 


N old gentleman bought a pair of the 
pony-reins with jingling bells for 
his little grandson, whose name was 


Davy, And Davy would have liked nothing 
better for a present if only he had had some¬ 
body to play “Pony” with him. 

His baby-brother was too young and his 
nurse was too fat. His father worked down¬ 
town all day, and, though his mother could 
play almost anything else, she said she did not 
believe she would be a good pony. She could 
not run fast enough. Davy wanted a pony 
that could run very fast, and trot and gallop 
and prance. 


22 


THE PONY-REINS 23 

“Perhaps you can catch a pony when you 
go to the park to play,” said his mother. 

So when he went to the park with Nurse and 
the baby he took the reins with him. 

The park was full of children, but Davy did 
not know any of them, for he had just come to 
live in the city. 

He had felt very shy and lonely, and had 
kept close to Nurse’s side until the day when 
he took the pony-reins with him. 

He was too busy then looking out for a pony 
to think of anything else. 

“Who wants to be a pony?” he called wav¬ 
ing the reins till the bells jingled. “Who 
wants to be a pony?” And every little boy 
who heard him call wanted to be that very 
thing. 

There was a little boy in a sailor suit, and a 


24 THE TOY SHOP 

little boy with a blue tie, and a little boy whose 
shoes were brand-new. Davy liked all of 
them, but he did not know which one to take 
for a pony. 

“Who can run the fastest?” asked Nurse to 
help him out; but every one of those little 
boys was sure that he was the fastest runner. 

“Just watch me,” said the little boy in the 
sailor suit, and he ran down the walk so fast 
that he frightened the park pigeons from their 
breakfast. 

“Just watch me,” said the little boy with the 
blue tie and off he went. And off went the 
little boy whose shoes were new. Clatter! 
Clatter! 

Davy ran after them. “I’ll catch a pony 
now. I’ll catch a pony now,” he shouted. 

But though the boys wanted so much to 


THE PONY-REINS 25 

play with the jingling pony-reins, they were 
not going to let Davy catch them so easily as 
he thought. No indeed! Not if they could 
help it. They galloped this way and that way, 
and kicked up their heels like very wild horses. 

Davy would have to run fast himself to 
catch those ponies. He did run fast, this 
way and that way, calling, “Whoa! Pony. 
Whoa!” 

He almost caught the boy with the blue tie 
as he darted around the elm-tree; he almost 
caught the boy whose shoes were new, by the 
barberry-bushes. And he did catch the boy 
in the sailor suit over by the stone bench. 
Hurrah! 

“Now you’re my pony,” he said as he put the 
reins on him. 

“Yes,” said Nurse who had been watching 


26 THE TOY SHOP 

all the while. “And if the other boys will 
wait in the stable behind the bench they can be 
ponies by and by, can’t they?” 

“Oh, yes, and I’ll be one sometimes and the 
boys can drive me,” said Davy. 

All the morning long, ponies were running 
and galloping and trotting in the park, or 
resting in the stable behind the bench; and 
when it was time to go home the little boys 
were sorry to part with each other. 

“But we can play again to-morrow,” said 
Davy as he went off jingling the pony-reins. 

Oh, what a nice present his grandfather had 
given him! 



All the Morning Ponies Were Galloping or Resting in 

THE Stable. Page 26 
27 































THE SMALLEST DOLL 


O NCE the Toy-Lady helped a man 
select a present for his little daugh¬ 
ter, and what do you think they 
chose? The smallest doll, the one that could 
stand alone though she was no longer than a 
finger. 

“Little girls love little dolls,” said the Toy- 
Lady. “They can make so many things for 
them.” 

,What she said was every word true. As 
soon as the little daughter saw the smallest 
doll she loved her, and that very day she be¬ 
gan to make things for her. 

The first thing that ,she made was a dress. 


29 


30 THE TOY SHOP 

out of a scrap left from her own Sunday dress 
which was white and green and glossy. 
Mother measured the cloth for her and then 
the little girl cut one edge into points like trim¬ 
ming. She cut the arm-holes, too, with a 
snip here and a snip there, and ran a gathering- 
thread at the top of the cloth; and do you be¬ 
lieve it? The dress was finished! It fitted 
exactly and the smallest doll looked beautiful 
in it, you may be sure. 

The little girl liked dressmaking so well that 
she did not stop with one dress. The smallest 
doll soon had a trunk full of clothes. The 
trunk was a spool-box, and you would have 
been surprised to see how many doll-dresses it 
could hold. 

And what do you think? The little girl 
borrowed a bath-tub from her Mother’s ca- 


THE SMALLEST DOLL 31 

nary, and bathed the smallest doll every day 
before she dressed her. The doll was always 
as neat and clean as a new pin, or a new needle 
for that matter. 

Then the little girl made a doll-bed, a four- 
poster doll-bed. Her mother drew the pat¬ 
terns for the head and the foot on a piece of 
pasteboard, and the little girl cut them out 
and glued one on each end of a jeweler’s box 
that had held her mother’s breast-pin. The 
blue cotton that was in the box made a soft 
mattress, and the coverlet was a bit of blue 
satin ribbon. Every night before the little 
girl went to bed herself she put the smallest 
doll to bed and tucked the cover around her 
very carefully. 

Mother and she made a doll-carriage, too, 
with a top and four wheels held on with paper 


32 THE TOY SHOP 

fasteners that Father gave her. It took only 
half a box for the carriage and half a box for 
the top, and the wheels were round pieces of 
pasteboard. 

When the carriage was finished and a long 
string tied at one end to pull it by, the smallest 
doll rode in it to visit the little girl’s grand¬ 
mother. 

» 

Grandmother was astonished and pleased, 
too, when she saw the tiny doll in her fine car¬ 
riage. 

“Has she a house to live in?’’ she asked the 
little girl. 

“No,’’ said the little girl. “She has a bed to 
sleep in and a trunk to keep her clothes in and 
a carriage to ride in, but she hasn’t any house.” 

“Well,” said Grandmother, “when I was 
a little girl and had a little doll I made her a 


THE SMALLEST DOLL 33 

house out of a shoe-box, and I thought per¬ 
haps you had made one for your doll.” 

Of course, when the little girl heard this, 
nothing would do but that she must make 
a doll-house. She asked her mother for a 
shoe-box as soon as she got home. 

Grandmother’s doll-house had had windows, 
so Father cut windows with his pocket-knife 
in the little girl’s house. 

She wanted everything like Grandmother’s 
and she called her over the telephone to ask 
about the wall-paper; what kind did she have? 

“Pink with tiny green leaves all over it. I 
drew them myself,” said Grandmother. 

So the little girl drew green leaves on pink 
paper for her walls. Father got the pink pa¬ 
per at the printer’s. 

When she had pasted it in the box, she made 


34 THE TOY SHOP 

a beautiful paper rug with a border and fringe 
for the floor, and then she set to work on the 
furniture. She had the bed already, so now 
she made a table out of a round piece of card¬ 
board glued on top of an empty spool; and a 
sofa from a stiff piece of paper folded to make 
a seat and a back, and with little spools for 
the legs. 

The smallest doll never sat down, but Grand¬ 
mother had had a sofa. 

“Did you have chairs?” telephoned the lit¬ 
tle girl. 

But no, there had been no room in Grand¬ 
mother’s house for chairs. There was no 
room in the little girl’s house, either. 

When everything was finished, and in its 
place, and the smallest doll was bathed and 
dressed in her very best clothes all ready for 


✓ 



“Is It as Pretty as Yours?” She Asked. Page 37 

35 













































































THE SMALLEST DOLL 37 

company, Grandmother came to see the new 
house. Of course this was just what the little 
girl had hoped she would do. 

“Is it as pretty as yours?” she asked. 

Oh, yes, it was every bit as pretty as Grand¬ 
mother’s; and perhaps a little prettier. 

“And is my doll like your doll?” asked the 
little girl. 

“Enough like her to show that she belongs 
to the same family,” said Grandmother, “but 
not so much that you couldn’t tell the two 

s f , 

apart.” 

“What else did you rriake for your doll?” 
asked the little girl. 

But whether Grandmother had made any¬ 
thing else or not, you will have to imagine; for 
we have come to the end of the story. 


THE TWO ROCKING-HORSES 


T he two rocking-horses with the seat 
between them where a child might 
sit and ride went to a nursery where 
three children played; a little girl who was not 
quite five years old, a little boy who was just 
three and a baby-child. 

The rocking-horses belonged to the little 
boy but he let the others ride and all of them 
liked it so well that Mother made a song to 
sing to each one of them while the little white 
horses galloped away. 

When the little boy rode she sang: 

“Two white horses side by side, 

Where, oh, where shall a brother-boy ride? 

38 


THE TWO ROCKING-HORSES 39 

Oh, ho, and oh, ho! Oh, hey and oh, hey! 
Galloping off to the woods away; 

To look for a funny wee bunny there, 

A roly-poly possum and a baby bear. 

There, oh, there shall a brother-boy . ride 
With two white horses side by side.” 

When the song ended the ride ended, too, 
and then it was the little girl’s turn to gallop 
away while Mother sang: 

^‘Two white horses side by side 
Where oh, where shall a lady-girl ride? 

Oh, hey! and oh, hey! Away and away, 

Off to the city she’ll ride to-day. 

To buy for her dollie a little new hat, 

A collar for doggie and a bow for the cat. 
There, oh, there shall a lady-girl ride 
With two white horses side by side.” 


40 THE TOY SHOP 

The little white horses went very fast when 
Brother and Sister rode but when Baby’s 
turn came they rocked evenly along with 
Mother’s hand to guide them while she sang: 

“Two white horses side by side, 

Where, oh, where shall a babykin ride? 

Oh, hey and oh, hey! and oh, ho! ho! ho! 
Straight to his. grandmother’s farm he’ll go. 

To hear the little grey pigeons coo. 

The piggy-wig squeal and the bossy-cow moo. 
There, oh, there shall a babykin ride. 

With two white horses side by side.” 

And what do you think? The children 
liked Baby’s song best of all! Sometimes 
Mother had to sing it for every one of them 
while the little white horses galloped away. 



II II ■! ■— 


“There, Oh, There Shall a Babykin Ride, 

With Two White Horses Side by Side.” Pa^e 40 

41 















SONG FOR THE TWO ROCKDMG-HORSES 


Maud Lindsay 


Arranged from an old plantation song 








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1 1 

^ m ^ 



1 

-i- >> -1 

^ m m ^ 


Where, 

oh. 

where 

shall 

a 

broth - er 

boy 

ride? 

Oh, 

Where, 

oh. 

where 

shall 

a 

la - dy 

girl 

ride ? 

Oh, 

Where, 

oh. 

where 

shall 

a 

Ba - by 

- kin 

ride? 

Oh, 



43 












































































































SONG FOR THE TWO ROCKING-HORSES 




Gal - lop - ing off . . to the woods a - way, To 
Off to the cit - y she’ll ride to - day, To 

Straight to his grand - moth-er’s farm he’ll go. To 



44 

























































































SONG FOR THE TWO ROCKING-HORSES 












look 

for 

a 

fun 

ny wee 

bun 

ny 

there, 

A 

buy 

for 

her 

dol - lie 

a . . 

lit - tie 

new 

hat, 

A 

hear 

the 

• 

lit - tie 

grey . 

pig - 

eons 

coo, 

The 


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— 


- 0 - 


- f —F 




r 


f 


-i: 

- 0 - 


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-j t- 


f: 


& 




- 0 - 


ft - ff. 




ro - ly - 

po - ly 

pos - sum 

and 

a 

ba 

by . . bear. 

col - lar 

for . 

dog - gie 

and 

a 

bow 

for the cat. 

pig ‘ gy - 

wig . 

squeal 

and 

the 

bos - 

sy - cow moo. 







-<— 


-#- 


-»- 






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-- 1 - 

-«- 


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45 




































































































SONG FOR THE TWO ROCKING-HORSES 




46 




















































































































THE WHITE SWAN 


T he white porcelain swan that looked 
as if it had come straight from fairy¬ 
land was sent to two little sisters by 
their godmother, and of course the first thing 
they wanted to do was to put it in water and 
see it float. 

So Nurse filled a big flowered wash-bowl 
for them and set it on the nursery floor. 

“Don’t get yourselves wet,” she said as she 
went out of the room. 

The water in the bowl was clear and shin¬ 
ing, and the painted flowers around the edge 
looked beautiful. 

“We can call it Wash-Bowl Pond, and I’ll 


47 


48 THE TOY SHOP 

put the white swan in it right now,” said the 
larger of the children. 

But that was just what the little one wanted 
to do. 

“You do everything,” she said. “And the 
white swan is as much mine as it is yours.” 

“Of course,” said the other; “but I’m taller 
than you, and older. You might drop the 
swan and break it.” 

“You broke your doll,” said the little sister. 

“Yes, but that was because I tripped up. 
I’ll be sure to look where I’m going when I 
have the white swan,” said the little girl who 
thought herself so old; “anyway, it is my time 
to be first, for you rang the door-bell when we 
went to see Grandma, and I wanted to do that 
as much as you did.” 

She took the white swan from the table and 


THE WHITE SWAN 49 

held it so high that the little sister could not 
reach it, though she tried very hard; and the 
next thing they knew, the white swan lay on 
the floor broken into a dozen pieces. 

“You pushed,” said one child. 

“You pulled,” said the other; and then be¬ 
cause they were sorry, and ashamed, too, they 
put their arms around each other and began 
to cry. 

Nurse came hurrying in at the very first 
sound and when she saw and heard what had 
happened she said: 

“If a white swan makes you quarrel like that, 

. I’m glad I’m not going to have one in my 
nursery.” 

But when Mother heard about it and saw 
how sorry the children were she said: 

“All the King’s horses and all the King’s 


50 THE TOY SHOP 

men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together 
again when he had a fall; but I will see what 
1 can do for the white swan.” 

That very day she glued the broken pieces 
together so carefully that when she had fin¬ 
ished, the children thought the white swan was 
as beautiful as it had been before. 

But it never could float in Wash-Bowl 
Pond nor anywhere else. The best that 
Mother and the children could do was to make 
a lake like the one in the Toy Shop with a 
piece of looking-glass; and there the white 
swan sat. 

The children could look at it but they could 
not play with it; and if ever they began to be 
cross with each other Nurse was sure to say: 

“Remember the white swan.” 



She Held It so High that the Little Sister Could not 

Reach It. Page 4 q 
SI 





















































































THE BALL THAT WENT TO A PARTY 


O NE of the balls from the Toy Shop 
went to a party to help in the fun. 
Maisie’s Aunt Leslie gave the party, 
and as many as a dozen children were invited 
to it. As soon as every one had come, Aunt 
Leslie brought out the ball and said: 


“Put on your thinking-caps one and all, 

What can you do with a rubber ball?” 

“I can throw it as high as the ceiling and 
catch it when it comes down,” said one of the 
boys. 

“I can bounce it and catch it,” said Maisie. 


53 


54 TfiE TOY SHOP 

''I can keep it bouncing till I have counted 
a hundred/’ said another little girl. 

can roll it,” said the tiniest child there. 

When the children had thought of every¬ 
thing they could think of, and had tried every¬ 
thing they thought of, Aunt Leslie taught 
them a game. 

There was a funny rhyme to say with it: 

“Flibberty-Gibberty comes to my house, 

I send him to you. I send him to you. 
Flibberty-Gibberty comes to my house, 

I send him to your house, too.’^ 

While they said the rhyme they had to keep 
the ball bouncing from one child to an¬ 
other as fast as it could go. It was great 
fun. 

% 

Then Aunt Leslie said that the children 



“Put on Your Thinking-Caps One and All, 

What Can You Do with a Rubber Ball?” Page S3 

55 































I 



'■f’ 


.1 



BALL THAT WENT TO PARTY 57 
must be trees in a forest, and the ball a bird 
that flew from tree to tree. She let each of 
them choose what kind of tree he would be, 
and there were oak-trees and birch-trees and 
elms and maples and one cedar. 

Nobody knew where the bird would fly, but 
they all sang a song which said: 

“The prettiest tree that ever was seen. 

The prettiest tree that ever was seen, 

The prettiest tree of emerald green. 

Birdie fly to me, oh!” * 


If the ball fell to the floor and bounced, they 
said the bird was hopping, and the nearest tree 
claimed it. It hardly ever hopped, though, 
but went flying to this tree and that tree as light 
as a feather. 


* See page 158. 


THE TOY SHOP 


58 

Then all the children stood in a ring and 
threw the ball from one to another. If any¬ 
one missed it, he had to leave the ring and sit 
down. And the one who stayed up the 
longest would win the game. 

Nobody spoke a word for fear of missing, 
and not a child had to sit down the first time 
the ball went round the ring. 

Then a little girl missed, and a little boy, and 
another girl. 

At last there were only two children left in 
the game, Maisie, and a little boy named Tom. 
They were just the same size, and just the 
same age. 

Back and forth, back and forth the ball went 
between them till Aunt Leslie said she believed 
that both would win the game. 

But that was before the scissors grinder rang 


BALL THAT WENT TO PARTY 59 

his bell in the street. Ting-ting it sounded, 
and Maisie turned to look out of the window. 
She turned back almost as quick as a cat can 
wink its eye, or at least she thought she did; 
but she missed the ball. It went by her and 
landed right among the children who were 
watching. 

Then what a clapping there was for Tom. 
Maisie clapped first of all, the other children 
clapped. Aunt Leslie clapped, and Tom 
clapped, too; he was so pleased to have won 
the game. 

The party supper came next, and after that 
all the children went home. But the ball 
stayed at Aunt Leslie’s, ready to help in the 
fun when she had another party. 


THE BLOCK TOWER 


S OME of the building-blocks were 
bought for a child who knew how to 
make all sorts of things with them: 
barns and bridges and palaces and churches. 

He was always thinking of something new 
to build. Once it was a tunnel for a train to 
go through, and another time it was a steam¬ 
boat; and one day he said he would build a 
tower as tall as he was. 

“Don’t you think that will be splendid?’’ he 
asked his mother. 

“Yes, indeed,” said she, “and hard, too.” 
So the little boy set to work piling the blocks 
one on top of another. Soon the tower was 


6 o 


THE BLOCK TOWER 6i 

knee-high, waist-high, chest-high; that was 
just the way the little boy and his mother meas¬ 
ured it. 

“It will soon be as tall as I am,” said the lit¬ 
tle boy, but he had hardly spoken when down 
the blocks fell! 

The little boy thought that the wind which 
was coming through the nursery window had 
blown the tower down, and his mother thought 
it might have fallen because he had been in 
such a hurry, but, anyway, the little boy said 
he would build it up again, and make it stand, 
too. 

Up, up, up the tower climbed. 

“It’s chin-high now. Look! Look! 
Mother,” he called, but before Mother could 
turn her head, down came the blocks! 

The little boy began to think that he could 


62 THE TOY SHOP 

not build such a high tower after all, but his 
mother still thought he could. Even though 
the blocks had fallen twice, she believed he 
could do it. 

“As tall as I am?” asked the little boy. 

“As tall as you are,” said his mother. 

So the little boy set to work once more piling 
the blocks one on top of another and taking 
pains with every one. Soon the tower was 
knee-high, waist-high, chest-high, chin-high, 
as high as the little boy’s nose! But it didn’t 
fall, not even when he put one more block on 
it and another one still. And then- 

“It’s taller than I am,” called the little boy. 
“Hurrah!” 

He thought the tower was the very finest 
thing he had ever built. So did his mother. 




“It’s Taller than I am,” Called the Little Boy. Page 62 

63 































































































THE BLUE-AND GOLD TEA-SET 


HE blue-and-gold tea-set was bought 



for a little girl’s birthday present; 
and the very day she got it she had a 


tea-party. 

She invited all of the company herself; 
Mother, Father, Grandmother, and a little 
girl-cousin who lived next door. 

“I’m going to have Cambric Tea with Ruf¬ 
fles, in my new cups,” she told each one; and 
everybody whom she invited was eager to go 
to the party. 

“Cambric Tea with Ruffles in blue-and- 
gold cups,” said Father. “Why, I wouldn’t 


66 THE TOY SHOP 

miss that party for anything. I’ll be the first 
one there, you just see if I’m not.” 

But though he came early, the little girl- 
cousin was ahead of him. She did so much 
want to know what Cambric Tea was and 
what kind of Ruffles it had. 

The tea-table looked beautiful with all the 
new dishes on it, and the little girl sat at the 
head to pour the tea. 

“Will you have your Cambric Tea with one 
Ruffle or two?” she asked each of the com¬ 
pany in turn. Grandmother was the first. 

“One Ruffle, if you please,” she said. 

So the little girl carefully filled a blue- 
and-gold cup with hot water from the blue- 
and-gold tea-pot and milk from the blue-and- 
gold cream-pitcher; and she put a tiny spoon¬ 
ful of sugar in it from the blue-and-gold 







































THE BLUE-AND-GOLD TEA-SET 69 

sugar-bowl. That was Cambric Tea with 
one Ruffle! 

“Two Ruffles for me, if you please,’’ said 
Father; and the little girl gave him two tea- 
spoonsful of sugar in his cup of tea. 

After that everybody took two Ruffles, and 
everybody drank two cups of Cambric Tea. 
The little girl had to go to the kitchen for 
more hot water and milk. 

There were animal crackers to eat with the 
tea, and they were on the blue-and-gold plates. 
Father said he had never eaten better elephants 
and tigers and bears, and that he believed the 
new tea-set had something to do with the way 
things tasted. 

Whether it did or not, the party was de¬ 
lightful from beginning to end. Everybody 
thought so and said so. Even when it was 


70 THE TOY SHOP 

over and Grandmother and Mother and Father 
had gone the little girl and her cousin had fun, 
for they washed and wiped the dishes. They 
enjoyed that as much as they did the party; 
and they did not so much as nick or crack a 
single piece of the blue-and-gold china. 



6 




THE LITTLE BALL 


N 


EVER in the world would you guess 
what became of one of the Toy- 
Lady’s little balls; and so you must 


be told. It was bought for a big, beautiful, 
shaggy dog named Don. 

Don had a little master, and every day the 
two played together with the ball. There was 
no end to the fun they had. 

The little boy would throw the ball as far as 
he could send it, and Don would go bounding 
after it and bring it back; or if it were tossed 
in the air he would catch it when it came 
down. Don could catch a ball in his mouth 


71 



72 THE TOY SHOP 

almost as well, as yc’j can catch one in your 
hands. 

Sometimes the little boy would hide the ball 
in a heap of yellow leaves under the maple- 
tree and tell Don to find it. Don understood 
all about finding things. No sooner had the 
little boy said, “Find the ball, Don,” than 
away the dog would go to jump into the leaves, 
scattering them in all directions and barking 
as if to say: “I know it is here. You can’t 
hide the ball from me.” And sure enough 
back he would come with it. 

Once Don hid the ball himself in a hole 
that he dug with his paws, and he covered it 
over with dirt so carefully that you would not 
have known it was there. 

The little boy could not imagine what had 
become of the ball. He searched for it all 



There Was no End to the Fun They Had. Page 71 

73 


I 


















THE LITTLE BALL 75 

over the house and the yard, and Don followed 
him looking very solemn and wise. 

At last the little boy sat down on the door- 
stone to rest. 

“Don’s ball is lost, and I don’t believe I’ll 
ever find it,’’ he said to his mother. 

“Why don’t you ask Don to help?’’ said his 
mother. “He’s a good finder.” 

Don pricked up his ears at the sound of his 
name, and the little boy had scarcely said, 
“Find the ball, Don,” before the dog ran to 
the hiding-place. When he scratched away 
the dirt that covered the ball, he looked as if he 
were laughing, or at least that is what the little 
boy thought. 

Don was not only a clever dog but a trusty 
one. If the little boy gave him the ball and 
told him to keep it, nobody could get it away 


76 THE TOY SHOP 

from him. He would lie on the ground with 
the ball between his fore-paws, and if any one 
came too near, he would growl deep in his 
throat, “Gr-r-r-r! Gr-r-r-r!” 

The little boy’s playmates thought it was 
great fun to beg Don for the ball, and since 
they could not get it from hini, they sometimes 
tried to coax him away from it. 

One day a big boy came with a juicy 
mutton-bone to tempt the dog. 

“He’ll leave anything for this. You see if 
he doesn’t,’’ said the big boy. 

“No, he will not,’’ said the little master, and 
he called, “Keep the ball, Don, keep the 
ball!’’ 

The big boy put the bone a little way from 
the dog and called him, too: “Here, Don, 
here!’’ But Don did not stir from his place. 


THE LITTLE BALL 77 

He knocked his tail on the ground, though, 
to tell the big boy that he liked mutton-bones. 

“Good dog! Come and get your bone,” 
said the boy; and thump, thump, thump went 
Don’s tail. 

No matter what the big boy said, nor how 
good the mutton-bone smelled, Don would not 
leave the ball. 

“I knew he wouldn’t,” said the little boy, 
running to get it. “I told you so.” He felt 
very proud of his dog just then. 

And you will be glad to know that Don got 
the mutton-bone after all, and enjoyed it. 



THE GAY TIN HORN 


A LITTLE boy’s aunt bought him 
one of the gay silver-and-blue 
striped horns from the Toy Shop. 
But there was no place where he could blow 
it. Or at least that is the way it seemed to 
him. 

When he started to blow it upstairs, the very 
aunt who had given it to him came hurrying 
out and said: “Oh, Jimmy, dear, please don’t 
blow your horn up here! Grandmother’s just 
getting ready to take a nap.” 

And when he started to blow it downstairs. 
Nurse put her head out of the nursery door 
and whispered, “Sh—the baby’s asleep.” 

78 


THE GAY TIN HORN 79 

Jimmy took the horn out on the sidewalk, 
but he had hardly made a sound with it before 
the servant next door came out and called: 
“Jimmy! Jimmy! Mrs. Grey has a head¬ 
ache; you don’t want to disturb her, do you?’’ 
And of course he didn’t. 

He sat on the doorstep and held the horn in 
his hands and looked at it because there was 
nothing else to do with it; and he wished his 
Aunt Mary had brought him something else. 
It was no fun to have a horn unless you could 
blow it. 

He was sitting there when his father came 
home to luncheon, and as soon as his father 
saw the horn he said: 

“Blow me a blast that is loud and gay.” 

“But Grandmother and the baby are asleep 
and Mrs. Grey has a headache,” said Jimmy 


80 


THE TOY SHOP 


who felt as if he would like to cry. “I mustn’t 
blow my horn at all.” 

He thought Father would be sorry to hear 
that, but instead he looked just as pleased as 
he could be. 

“Hurrah for you!” he said. Jimmy was as¬ 
tonished, but Father said: 

“It takes the right kind of boy to keep from 
blowing a gay tin horn when people are asleep 
or sick. Your mother will be proud of you, 
too. Let’s go tell her.” 

Mother was just as proud as Father had 
thought she would be: and Aunt Mary said 
she was glad she had brought Jimmy a horn. 
And now he had to blow it for Grandmother, 
who had just waked up from her nap. She 
wanted to hear it, she said. 

He blew it for Baby, too. Nurse called 



It Was no Fun to Have a Horn Unless You Could Blow It 

Page jg 




















































































































THE GAY TIN HORN 83 

him into the nursery for that special purpose. 
And Baby liked the noise so well that he 
kicked up his pretty pink feet and laughed 
aloud. Jimmy had to blow the horn again 
and again for him. 

When he went out on the sidewalk after 
luncheon the servant next door, who was a 
very kind girl, called to him; 

“Mrs. Grey hasn’t the headache now; you 
can blow your horn if you want to’’; and of 
course he did. 

He ran in the house to get it, and when he 
came back Father, who had heard what the 
girl said, was waiting at the door. 

“Blow me a blast that is loud and gay 
To send me merrily on my way,” 

he said, and Jimmy blew it with a will. 


84 THE TOY SHOP 

Toot! Toot! Tootle-te-too! All the peo¬ 
ple on the street who heard the sound turned 
their heads and smiled at Jimmy. 

Toot! Toot! Tootle-te-too. 

It certainly was fun to have a tin horn when 
you could blow it. 















THE BUILDING-BLOCKS 


O NE box of building-blocks was given 

to some children who had so many 

toys that they did not know what to 

do with them all. Perhaps this was the reason 

that the blocks were soon scattered from one 

end of the house to the other. 

Nurse stepped on a block that had been left 

in a dark hall and turned her ankle; the baby 

tumbled over a heap of them on the nursery 

floor. Cook almost fell down the cellar stair 

because there was a block on a step, and 

Father stubbed his toe against one when he 

came in at the front door. 

It was too bad, Mother said, and she made 

8s 


86 THE TOY SHOP 

the children pick up all the blocks and put 
them in a basket. When this was done she set 
the basket on the highest shelf of the nursery 
closet. 

There it stayed until one day when the rain 
came pouring down and the children had to 
stay indoors. 

They stood at the nursery windows with 
their noses pressed against the panes and 
watched the rain until they were tired. Just 
then Mother came in and took the basket of 
blocks from the shelf. 

“The one who builds the best house and the 
prettiest shall have a prize,” she said; and the 
children were as glad to see the blocks as if 
they had been a brand-new present. 

Mother thought it would be more fun if only 
one child built at a time; and she counted the 



Just then Mother Took the Basket of Blocks from the 

Shelf. Page 86 

87 


































































THE BUILDING-BLOCKS 89 

children out with a nonsense rhyme to see who 

< 

should have first turn. The names of all the 
children were in the rhyme: 

t 

“Willykin-Billykin, bouncing B, 
Manikin-Danikin, dancing D. 

Pollykin, Peterkin, O dear me! 

In comes a little mouse and out—goes—he 1” 

The count fell on Willykin-Billykin, who 
was really Billy. He made a lighthouse with 
a strong foundation and a tall tower, and he 
pasted a little circle of yellow paper on the 
block next to the roof to show where the light 
was. 

‘When I am a man I shall be a lighthouse- 
keeper, I think,” he told the other children. 
“You can come in a boat to see me.” 

When Peter’s turn came he built a grand 


90 T.HE TOY SHOP 

hotel with a great many windows and doors 
and chimneys, and put his toy automobile in 
front of it. 

Polly’s house was for mothers and fathers 
and children to live in. It was not large, but 
it had a big chimney and a porch to sit on 
when the weather was pleasant, Polly said. 

Little man Dan built a pigeon-house be¬ 
cause he liked pigeons. And that was a very 
good reason I think. Don’t you? 

“I have to build it high to keep the cats 
out,” he said; and he made his pigeon-house 
almost as tall as Billy’s lighthouse. 

Mother and Nurse were the ones to say 
which house was the prettiest and the best, but 
they could not tell. 

“Such good builders must all have prizes,” 
said Mother, so she gave each child a brown 


THE BUILDING-BLOCKS 91 

sugary ginger-cake right out of Cook’s oven. 

By this time the rain had stopped and the 
sun was shining. But before the children ran 
out doors to play, they put the blocks back into 
the basket and Mother set it up on the highest 
shelf of the nursery closet to stay until the next 
rainy day. 

“Rainy day playthings are splendid, aren’t 
they, Mother?” said little man Dan. 















THE BIG BALLOONS 


T WO little boys who had money to 
spend went to the Toy Shop to buy 
balloons; but they did not want any 
of those that hung like colored lights in the 
window that day. 

“We can blow them up ourselves,” said one 
of the little boys whose name was Andy. 

“As big as this,” said the other little boy 
whose name was Dick; and he made a circle 
with his arms to show the Toy-Lady how large 
the balloons would be. 

“My! My!” said she, and she made haste 
to get a box of balloons and put it down on the 
counter before the children. 


92 


THE BIG BALLOONS 93 

There were red balloons in the box, and blue 
and white and orange ones; and green ones 
with pictures on them. Dick chose a red one. 

“As red as roses and poppies,” said the Toy- 
Lady. 

“And apples,” said Dick; and he wanted 
Andy to get a red one, too. 

But Andy liked blue balloons, and so did the 
Toy-Lady. She could think of ever so many 
beautiful things that were blue: bluebells and 
the sky, and bluebirds. 

“There are red birds, too,” said Dick. “As 
red as my balloon.” 

He and Andy were hardly out of the Toy 
Shop before they began to blow up the bal¬ 
loons. Oh, how fast they grew! 

The children’s faces were crimson, and 
their cheeks swelled out as they puffed away. 


94 THE TOY SHOP 

They had to stop and rest by and by, but they 
held the ends of the balloons so tight that the 
air could not get out. 

“Mine is larger than yours,” said Andy. 

“But I can blow mine bigger,” said Dick, 
and he blew, blew, blew! Why, the red bal¬ 
loon was larger than the largest ball in the Toy 
Shop 1 And so was the blue one. 

“Watch out!” said a big jolly policeman 
who was standing on the corner. “Something 
will happen,” and he had not finished speak¬ 
ing when POP went the red balloon and POP 
went the blue one! 

But they had been splendid while they 
lasted! 


1 

























































THE SURPRISE BOX 


T he Surprise Box was sent to a little 
girl who was getting well from the 
measles. She had only one more 
day to stay in bed, and everybody in the house 
was glad. 

Before her father went to his office he put 
his head in the door to tell her that he would 
take her on his back in great style to breakfast 
next morning. 

Brother Ben wrote a letter from the dog and 
cat saying that they would be waiting at the 
foot of the stairs for her. 

When Mother came in she brought a pink 
flower and a message from Grandmother. 


97 


98 THE TOY SHOP 

“The big armchair by the window is all 
ready to hold a little girl,” the message said. 

The only trouble was that all the messages 
and promises made Peggy want to get up that 
very minute. The last day in bed would 
have been the hardest of all if the Surprise Box 
had not come. 

In the middle of the morning somebody 
tapped at the door, and when Nurse went to 
see who it was, there stood a maid with a box 
in her hand and a note that had Peggy’s name 
on it. 

Nurse read the note aloud; 

“Dear Peggy-getting-well-of-the-measles : 

“You must be sure to open this box yourself 
for there is a surprise in it. 

“.With love and a kiss and a hug from 


“Father.” 


THE SURPRISE BOX 99 

“Oh, what do you suppose it is?” asked 
Peggy- but Nurse would not guess. She only 
laughed and said: 

“Something nice and fiinny, I’m sure, and 
the sooner you open it the sooner you’ll 
know.” 

The Surprise Box was fastened with a little 
hook that was not so easy to open as you might 
think and Peggy’s fingers were very small, but 
of course, she couldn’t let Nurse help her. 

“Father said I must open it myself,” she 
said, and she worked away until, just when she 
was not expecting it, the hook slipped out, the 
lid flew open, and squeak! squeak! up jumped 
a little man dressed all in yellow. 

Peggy jumped, too, and so did Nurse. 

“Why it’s Jack-in-the-Box who has come to 
see us,” she said. 


) ) 

> f ) 

> > ' 


100 THE TOY SHOP 

“Yes, and I’m going to shut him up again so 
I can surprise somebody else with him,” said 

Peggy- 

Mother, Father, Grandmother, Brother 
Ben, and even the doctor had to open the Sur¬ 
prise Box, and how many times Peggy opened 
and shut it herself, nobody knows. ' 

But no matter when the lid flew up, out 
jumped jolly Jack as lively and funny as ever. 







Up Jumped a Little Man Dressed All in Yellow. Page gg 

lOI 































































































THE GREEN WAGON WITH RED 

WHEELS 


A LITTLE boy six years old wanted 
the green wagon with red wheels as 
soon as he saw it in the Toy Shop, 
and when he told Mother about it she said 
that she thought a good plan would be to save 
the money to buy it for himself. 

“So do I, ” said the little boy, and he began 
to save that very day. 

He had birthday money that Uncle George 
had sent him. Father always gave him a 
dime on Saturday to spend as he pleased; 
Mother sometimes paid him for running er¬ 
rands. And when Grandmother heard what 


103 


104 the toy shop 

he was trying to do she gave him as many 
quarters as there were wheels on the wagon. 

“You must have something to keep your 
money in,” said Mother; and the next time she 
went shopping she bought him a bank, the 
largest one that the Toy-Lady had. 

“When this is full, I believe you will have 
enough money for the wagon,” she told him. 

“Oh, yes,” said the little boy; “and if I get 
it by Christmas I can go with Father to buy 
our Christmas tree and bring it home myself.” 

When he got the wagon, he was going to 
bring Mother’s groceries from the store, and 
take Grandmother’s bag to the station when¬ 
ever she went to see Aunt Alice; and haul dirt 
for his garden when spring came; and play 
expressman and milkman and everything. 

But it took a long time to fill the bank. 


THE GREEN WAGON 105 

Whenever the little boy shook it, the money in¬ 
side would dance up and down, and Mother 
said, “As long as the money dances, there’s 
room for more.” 

It was easier to spend pennies than to 
save them. The baker, whose shop was just 
around the corner, had gingerbread cats and 
dogs to sell; the apple-man with his cart full of 
red and yellow apples went up and down the 
street; there was barley-sugar candy, the nicest 
that ever was, at the candy store and the 
popcorn-man had his stand right where the 
little boy had to pass it whenever he went on 
an errand for Mother. And he liked popcorn 
and candy and apples and gingerbread. 

But he saved more than he spent, and by and 
by the bank began to grow heavy. When he 
shook it there was not much dancing inside. 


io6 THE TOY SHOP 

Christmas was coming and Mother had 
many errands for the little boy to run. She 
paid him every time, though, of course, he 
would have gone, anyway. 

“This is to help buy the green wagon,” she 
told him whenever she gave him a penny or a 
nickel. He went to the grocer’s for sugar 
and spice and raisins for the Christmas cake, 
and to the dry-goods store for ribbons to tie on 
Christmas presents. He dropped Christmas 
letters in the mail-box, and once he went to the 
Post Office with a Christmas package that was 
almost as large as he was, though it wasn’t 
heavy. 

“When I get my wagon I can carry pack¬ 
ages or anything in it,” he told the man at the 
Post-Office window. 

“Oh,” said the man, “is Santa Claus going 


THE GREEN WAGON 107 

to bring you a wagon?” When he heard 
that the little boy was going to buy it for him¬ 
self he was astonished. 

“Well, you are getting to be a big boy,” he 
said. And that is just what the milkman and 
the postman and the big jolly policeman said 
when they heard about the wagon and the 
bank, and the dancing money. 

The Toy-Lady said the same thing when 
the little boy stopped to look at the wagon and 
told her he was going to buy it; and she said 
she hoped the bank would be full by Christ¬ 
mas. 

“I do, too,” said the little boy, and he ran 
every step of the way home; he was in such a 
hurry to shake the bank once more. Chink, 
clink, the money scarcely stirred. 

“When you put another dime in, I believe 


io8 THE TOY SHOP 

it will be full,” said Mother; and when Father 
came home with the Saturday dime the little 
boy could only just get it into the bank. 

Then Mother opened the bank and all the 
money came tumbling out; the nickels and 
pennies that he had earned, and the dimes that 
he had saved instead of spending; the four 
bright quarters that Grandmother had given 
him and the birthday money that Uncle 
George had sent. When the money was 
counted there was enough to pay for the 
wagon and one penny more. 

The little boy bought the wagon that very 
day; and I wish you could have seen the beau¬ 
tiful tree that he brought home in it at Christ¬ 


mas time. 



I Wish You Could Have Seen the Beautiful Tree He 

Brought Home. Page io 8 
:og 




























































THE VELOCIPEDE 


LMOST two weeks before Christ¬ 



mas a little boy’s mother and father 
made up their minds to give him a 


velocipede for a Christmas present; but of 
course they did not tell him. 

They knew that he wanted one, because 
whenever he talked about Christmas and what 
he hoped he would get he always said a veloci¬ 
pede. Sometimes it was a ball and a horn and 
a velocipede that he wanted, or sometimes it 
was a train and a picture-book instead of a 
ball and a horn, but no matter how much he 
changed his mind about the other things, he 
never changed it about the velocipede. 

His mother told his father about it one night 


112 THE TOY SHOP 

after the little boy had gone to bed and Father 

said: 

“There are sure to be velocipedes at the Toy 
Shop, ril buy one to-morrow, but I will not 
bring it home yet.” 

So the next night as soon as the little boy had 
gone to bed, Mother asked: 

“Oh, Father, did you remember to see about 
the velocipede?” 

“Indeed I did,” said Father, “and the 
Toy-Lady is going to keep it till we are ready 
for it.” 

After that, whenever the little boy talked 
about Christmas and what he wanted. Mother 
and Father would smile at each other over his 
head. And when he was in bed and asleep 
they would plan how Father could get the 
velocipede home without the little boy seeing 


THE VELOCIPEDE 1 13 

it, and where it must be hidden. Father 
thought the basement would be the best place 
to put it, but Mother thought the coat-closet 
under the stairs would be still better. 

“You can get it in there without making 
any noise,” she said, “but you must be careful. 
All the fun would be spoiled if he were to find 
out before Christmas that we had bought the 
velocipede.” 

The little boy went to meet his father almost 
every evening, but on the day before Christ¬ 
mas when it was nearly time for him to start. 
Mother said: 

“Oh, little son, don’t you want to run into 
the kitchen and cut out biscuits for cook?” 

The little boy liked to cut out biscuits, and 
he could do it so well and so quickly that he 
cut enough to fill a pan in such a short time 


114 THE TOY SHOP 

that when Cook saw them she could scarcely 
believe her eyes. 

“I hurried so I could go to meet Father,” 
he told his mother. 

“But I wish you would shell this ear of pop¬ 
corn, and then when Father comes we can pop 
it and string it for the Christmas tree,” said 
Mother. The little boy was glad to do that. 
He liked to shell corn as well as he liked to cut 
out biscuits. He shelled a bowlful before he 
stopped. 

It was too late to go to meet Father then, but 
the little boy said he would watch for him at 
the front door. 

“I can see him a long way off,” he said to 
his mother; but she had a skein of beautiful 
purple wool to wind into a ball and she asked 
him to hold it for her. 


THE VELOCIPEDE 115 

“This is for the very last stitches in Grand¬ 
mother’s Christmas shawl, and you will be 
helping me to finish it,” she said as she put 
the skein on his hands. 

Mother took a long time to wind the wool, 
but the little boy did not get tired. He liked 
to watch the soft bright threads as they slipped 
from his hands; and he was very careful not to 
Jet the skein fall. Just as the winding was 
finished Mother heard the front door opened 
and shut ever so quietly. There was hardly 
any noise at all, but the little boy heard, too. 

“There’s my father,” he said running to¬ 
ward the hall, and if Mother had not thought 
of something else for him to do that very sec¬ 
ond, he would have gone out and seen the 
velocipede. 

“Quick! Quick! hide behind the bed and 


ii6 THE TOY SHOP 

I’ll tell Father to look for you,” she called and 
that brought him back. 

He was hidden away and as still as a mouse 
when Father came into the room by and by. 
No sooner had he opened the bed-room door 
than Mother called: 

“If you want your little boy you’ll have to 
find him.” And Father looked in all sorts of 
ridiculous places; in Mother’s work-bag, in 
the waste-paper basket, under the rocking- 
chair and behind the pillows on the bed. 

“What! Not here!” he said. “Then I 
must look in my slippers.” 

The little boy could not keep from laugh¬ 
ing when he heard that, and there was no hid¬ 
ing from Father then. 

“Well! Well! Well!” he said, “I’m glad 
I found you before Christmas!” And he and 



Mother Heard the Front Door Opened and Shut Ever so 

Quietly. Page iiS 
117 

































































































































THE VELOCIPEDE 


119 

Mother smiled at each other as if they were de¬ 
lighted about something. But the little boy 
did not dream that it was because the veloci¬ 
pede was safely hidden in the coat-closet un¬ 
der the stairs. 

He was just as surprised as he could be 
when he spied it at the foot of the Christmas 
tree next morning. 

His Grandmother had sent him a picture- 
book, and he got a ball and a train, too, but 
none of his presents pleased him so much as the 
velocipede that Mother and Father gave him. 


THE TOY FARM 


L ong before Christmas the MacMul- 
ligan children decided to buy the 
toy farm for their mother’s Christ¬ 
mas present. The twins, Patsy and Timmy, 
were the ones who thought of it first. 

Ever since they could remember, Mrs. Mac- 
Mulligan had been wishing for a little house 
with trees beside it, and for ducks and hens 
and pigs and a cow and a horse; and the toy 
farm had all these things. The moment they 
saw it in the Toy Shop window they wanted to 
buy it. Even Cassie and Joseph, who were 
older than the twins, thought it would be a 
splendid present for their mother. 


120 


THE TOY FARM 121 

“It will look beautiful on the centre-table in 
the front room,” said Cassie. 

The toy farm cost fifty cents, and putting 
all their money together the MacMulligan 
children had no more than a quarter. But 
they all set to work to earn the rest of the 
money. 

There were five of them: Joseph, Cassie, 

the twins, and little Annie who was only four, 

but if each one of them could make five cents 

they would have enough to buy the farm. 

Five fives are twenty-five; Cassie and Joseph 

had learned that at school. 

« 

The twins were the first to make their 
money, a bright silver dime, by finding 
Mickey, Mrs. O’Flanagan’s big yellow cat, 
that had gone astray. 

There is no telling how many alleys the 


122 THE TOY SHOP 

twins went through nor how many corners 
they looked into nor how many times they 
called, “Mickey, Mickey,” and “Kitty, Kitty” 
before they found him sitting on top of a high 
wall washing his face with his paw. And 
when they did find him he would not come 
down from the wall. No indeed! They be¬ 
gan to be afraid that he was not Mickey after 
all, but when Timmy ran and told Mrs. 
O’Flanagan and she came to see, down 
jumped Mr. Mickey as if he had never 
thought of doing anything else. 

Right then Mrs. O’Flanagan took the dime 
out of her pocket and gave it to the twins. 

Joseph was the next one of the children to 
make money and the way that he made it was 
this; he was standing on the sidewalk won¬ 
dering what he could do when a little bundle 



Mrs. O’Flanagan Took the Dime from Her Pocket and 
Gave It to the Twins. Pa^e 122 

123 



































































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THE TOY FARM 125 

dropped out of a man’s pocket right at his 
feet. 

Joseph picked it up and hurried after the 
man as fast as he could, which was not very 
fast because there were so many other people 
hurrying along the street that day. If it had 
not been that the man wore a gray hat Joseph 
would have lost sight of him in the crowd. 

The man went down a street, around a cor¬ 
ner, across another street, and up another and 
Joseph followed him. Once he got so close 
to him that he thought he would catch up with 
him in a second; but the crowd pushed in be¬ 
tween them, and once Joseph lost sight of the 
man entirely. You can imagine how he felt 
then with a bundle that did not belong to him. 

He was just about to ask a policeman what 
he must do when he spied the man with the 


126 


THE TOY SHOP 


gray hat coming out of a store; and then the 
chase began again; up the street, across the 
street and—^hurrah! Joseph caught up with 
the man in front of a big church where he had 
stopped. 

“Here is your bundle,” said Joseph and 
then the man was surprised. He did not 
know that he had dropped the bundle. 

“It is a Christmas present for my baby,” he 
said and he opened the package and showed 
Joseph a little white woolly sheep. 

“I’m glad I found it,” said Joseph, and the 
man was glad, too. He took a dime out of 
his pocket and gave it to the little boy. 

“Perhaps you will buy yourself a present 
with this,” he said. 

It was Joseph’s turn to be surprised then, for 
he had been so busy trying to get the bundle to 


THE TOY FARM 127 

the man that he had not thought of being paid; 
but he was pleased. 

On his way home he got the dime changed 
into nickels. 

“One of these is for my part of the present,” 
he told Cassie and the twins, “and the other 
one I’ll give to little Annie if she’ll learn to 
say a Christmas piece. Then she’ll have a 
nickel for the present, too.” 

All the children thought that this was the 
nicest plan in the world; and Cassie found a 
Christmas verse for Annie before she went to 
sleep that night. 

“Away in a manger, no crib for a bed 

The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head. 

The stars in the bright sky looked down where he 
lay— 

The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.” 


128 


THE TOY SHOP 


Everybody in the house helped little Annie, 
even Mrs. MacMulligan, though she was not 
in the secret; and all together they were such 
good teachers that the little girl soon knew 
the verse. The first time she said it with¬ 
out forgetting a word, Joseph paid her the 
nickel. 

Cassie made her money just two days before 
Christmas by taking care of Mrs. Ryan’s 
baby. She was running to see the Christmas 
Tree in the park when Mrs. Ryan put her 
head out of the window and called: 

“Oh, Cassie, dear, will you stay with the 
baby now while I go to speak a word to my 
husband’s aunt who has just come from the 
old country, and I’ll give you a nickel for the 
help that you are?” 

“Why, I’m going somewhere myself,” 


THE TOY FARM 129 

thought Cassie, but she did not say that to Mrs. 
Ryan, for, just as the words were on the tip 
end of her tongue, she remembered the toy 
farm. 

“I’ll stay,” she said, and though she hated to 
be left behind while all the other children ran 
shouting and laughing to see the tree, she was 
glad when she went home with the last nickel 
that was needed for her mother’s Christmas 
present. 

All the MacMulligan children went to the 
Toy Shop to buy the present, and they were as 
happy as birds till, just before they got there, 
Cassie said: 

“Suppose the farm is sold.” 

That was too dreadful to think about, but, 
sure enough, when they looked in the window 
where the toy farm had been when the twins 


130 THE TOY SHOP 

first saw it, it was gone. A procession of tiny 
camels filled the window shelf. 

You can imagine how the children felt 
then! But Joseph would not give up hope. 

“Perhaps the Toy-Lady had another farm,” 
he said. So they went down the little stair to 
the shop in a doleful group. 

But as soon as the Toy-Lady heard what 
they wanted she began to smile. 

“Here is the very farm that you saw,” she 
said. “I took it out of the window this morn¬ 
ing and put it in a box.” 

She wrapped the box in gay holly-paper and 
Joseph paid her with the money that all the 
children had helped to make. Then away 
they went, Cassie holding the package with 
great care, and every one of them as merry as 
a mocking-bird. But the happiest time of all 


THE TOY FARM 


131 

was when they gave the farm to Mrs. MacMul- 
ligan and she set it out on the center-table in 
the front room; the little red house with a 
green tree on either side and the ducks and 
chickens and horse and cow. 

“Never was there such a fine present,” said 
Mrs. MacMulligan, who was half crying and 
half laughing, she was so pleased. Nothing 
would do but that she must call Mrs. O’Flana¬ 
gan and Mrs. Ryan and all the other neigh¬ 
bors in to see. 

“When I am a man I’m going to buy you a 
house like that to live in,” said Joseph who 
was getting to be a big boy. 

And the neighbors and Mrs. MacMulligan 
said they wouldn’t be surprised if that was 
just what he did. 


THE FOUR TOYS 


O NE night when all the people who 
had bought toys had gone home and 
there was no one left in the Toy 
Shop but herself, the Toy-Lady selected a 
Christmas present to take to each of her four 
grandchildren. 

One of them was a boy seven years old. He 
went to school and could read, and write let¬ 
ters to his Grandmother, and do number 
work; so of course he had to have a big boy’s 
present. 

“I’ll take him marbles,” said the Toy-Lady 
and she picked out a handful of the very pret¬ 
tiest ones she had. Some of them were 


132 


THE FOUR TOYS 133 

spotted yellow and brown, some were a beau¬ 
tiful blue, some were as clear as crystal, and 
one was half white and half grey. 

Before she went to bed that night the Toy- 
Lady made a stout little marble-bag with a 
good draw-string in it to fasten it tight. 

“Now he’ll not lose his marbles,” she said. 

Two of the grandchildren were little girls 
named Margie and Bess. 

“Margie must have a doll,” said the Toy- 
Lady. She looked at all the dolls in the shop 
to see which would suit the little granddaugh¬ 
ter best, and chose a baby doll with a long 
white dress. 

“She will like to sit in her tiny rocking-chair 
and sing this baby to sleep,” the grandmother 
thought. 

The Toy-Lady took a long time to make up 


134 TJiE TOY SHOP 

her mind about a present for the other grand¬ 
daughter, for she was a little sick girl. She 
could not run and play, at least not that Christ¬ 
mas. What would make her happiest on 
Christmas Day? A doll? A book? A 
music box? 

“Yes, a music-box is the very thing that will 
please her most,” said the Toy-Lady; and she 
selected one that played the sweetest tune of 
all. It sounded as if there were a real live 
bird singing inside the box. 

The youngest grandchild was a baby who 
had just learned to walk. 

“He must have something to take along 
with him wherever he goes,” said his grand¬ 
mother, and she found a comical yellow duck- 
on-wheels and fastened a string on it all ready 
for Mr. Baby to pull. 



The Toy-Lady Always Knew How to Please Children 

Pa^e 137 
135 



































THE FOUR TOYS 137 

“I hope the children will like their pres¬ 
ents,” she said as she wrapped them up. And 
of course they did. The Toy-Lady always 
knew how to please children. The boy who 
was seven years old thought so much of his 
bag of marbles that he put it under his pillow 
every night when he went to bed. The little 
grand-daughter named Margie sat down in 
her rocking-chair and sang the baby-doll to 
sleep as soon as she got her. . 

Bess, the little sick girl, was never tired of 
hearing the tiny tinkling music-box; and the 
best thing about it was that she could play it 
for herself. Even when she got well, the 
music-box was her favorite toy. 

And as for the yellow duck-on-wheels he 
went wherever the baby did; but it would take 
too long to tell where they traveled together! 


THE CHRISTMAS TOPS 


S EVEN of the big tin tops that sang 
when they spun went to the Brown fam¬ 
ily. There was Mr. Brown and Mrs. 
Brown, the two big Brown boys, and the two 
Brown boys who were neither very little nor 
very big, and the one little Brown girl. Seven 
Browns and seven singing tops! 

Mr. Brown bought the tops, and when the 
other people in the Toy-Shop looked a little 
surprised to see him get so many he laughed 
and chuckled till they had to laugh, too. He 
was a very jolly man. 

“Getting ready for Christmas fun,” said the 
Toy-Lady who had sold him tops before. 

138 


THE CHRISTMAS TOPS 139 

But she did not know how much fun the 
Browns did have at Christmas. 

They had fun hanging the Christmas 
wreaths in every window and holly all over 
the house. They never could put up too 
much holly for Mr. Brown. He even pinned 
a tiny piece on his coat, he liked it so well. 

They had fun making the Christmas pud¬ 
ding that everybody had to stir. Mr. Brown 
said he wouldn’t eat a Christmas pudding un¬ 
less everybody in the house had stirred it. 

They had fun choosing the Christmas tree 
and bringing it home and putting it up and 
trimming it and lighting the candles; and in 
guessing what was in the Christmas packages 
before they were opened, and saying, “Oh, 
just what I wanted!’’ when they were opened. 

They hung up their stockings and socks on 


140 THE TOY SHOP 

Christmas Eve, and laughed because some of 
them were small and some big, some long and 
some short; and they laughed again in the 
morning when they found those same socks 
and stockings stuffed with Christmas goodies. 

Eating Christmas breakfast was fun, too, 
because nobody had to hurry away to work or 
to school, and there was plenty of time to talk 
about all sorts of pleasant things; and when 
they finished their breakfast they spun the 
Christmas tops. 

All tlie Browns sat on the floor and wound 
their tops at the very same time and then when 
Mr. Brown said, “One, two, three; ready to 
go!” off went the tops all together. 

“Hum, hum, hum,” they sang like great 
sleepy bees, and the fun then was to see whose 
top would spin and sing the longest. 


THE CHRISTMAS TOPS 141 

Mrs. Brown felt very sure that hers would 
be the one. It was such a steady-going top 
with its hum, hum, hum; never moving out of 
its place. 

But Mr. Brown thought that his top would 
be the last to stop, even though it danced about 
as it sang. 

“I think they do better when they move,” he 
said. 

The Brown boys, no matter whether they 
were big or middle-sized, made a great noise 
and stir over their tops. 

“Mine will last the longest!” “Mine will 
last the longest!” they called and they whirled 
and twirled and danced about as if they were 
tops themselves. 

But which of the tops do you think was still 
turning on its one little toe and humming like 


142 THE TOY SHOP 

a big sleepy bee when all the others had 
tumbled down? The top that belonged to the 
little Brown girl; and the rest of the Browns 
were as pleased as she was. 

“Next time though mine must beat,” said 
Mr. Brown. “One, two, three; ready to go!” 
Then all the fun began again. 



Still Turning on Its One Little Toe. Page 141 

143 


• w.) iinWUW 






















THE MERRY DRUM 


B um ! Bum! a-bum, bum, bum!” 

If you heard a noise like that on 
Christmas morning what would 


you do? 

Go with a hop and a skip and a jump to find 
out what was making such lively music? 

That is just what the children did who lived 
on a street in the old city where the Toy-Lady 
had her Toy Shop. And when they looked 
out of their windows or doors they saw a little 
boy beating a merry drum with all his might 
and main: 

“Bum! Bum! a-bum, bum bum!” 

It sounded as if the drum were saying: 


I4S 


146 THE TOY SHOP 

“Come! Come! oh, come, come, come!” 

And of course the children came in a hurry. 
It was just as if the music had gotten into 
their feet! 

The first one to hear the merry drum was a 
little boy named Dick. 

He was sitting on the doorstep playing with 
one of his Christmas presents, a bright-colored 
pin-wheel that whirled and twirled in the wind, 
but when he heard that “Bum! Bum! a-bum, 
bum, bum!” he jumped up in a hurry. 

“Wait, Andy; wait for me and we can have 
a parade,” he called to the drummer-boy. 

There wasn’t much of a parade at first, only 
Andy beating on the drum and Dick march¬ 
ing behind him with his whirling, twirling 
pin-wheel; but they had not gone far before a 
little girl with a Christmas doll in her arms 


THE MERRY DRUM 147 

ran out of a house to see what was happening. 

“We are having a parade; don’t you want 
to be in it?” asked Dick as soon as he saw her. 

“Oh, yes,” said the little girl, and she and the 
doll marched right behind Dick, keeping time 
to the music of the merry drum. 

“Bum! Bum! a-bum, bum, bum!” 

A boy with a wagon was the next to come. 
Wagons were fine in parades; and the little 
boy said if anybody wanted to ride he could. 

And what do you think? At the very next 
house a dog and his little master came out and 
the children put the dog in the wagon. He 
sat there just like a king. 

At almost every house they passed some 
child heard the drum and ran out to join the 
parade; and almost every one brought a toy 
with him. 


148 THE TOY SHOP 

There were jumping-jacks and French 
harps and horns and pony-reins, and a rattle! 
A baby brought that, and he and his nurse 
went with the rest keeping time to the music 
of the merry drum. 

“Bum! Bum! a-bum, bum, bum!” 

The longer the parade grew, the merrier it 
was. If anybody had not known already that 
it was Christmas he would have found it out 
the moment he saw that line of children and 
heard that drum. 

“Bum! Bum! a-bum, bum, bum!” 

Down the sidewalk and back again they 
went and when they passed Andy’s house his 
mother was astonished to see him marching 
at the head of such a fine parade. 

“I must count and see how many children 
are here,” she said. 



“We Are Having a Parade. Don’t You Want to Be in It?” 

Page 147 

149 











































































































THE MERRY DRUM 151 

Arid, do you believe it? There was a 
baker’s dozen of children, and the Nurse and 
the dog besides, marching to the music of the 
merry drum. Andy was so pleased that he 
played a brand new tune: 

“Bum, bum, a-bum! Bum, bum, a-bum!” 

“I made them come! I made them come!” 

That is what the drum seemed to say then 
with its “Bum, bum, a-bum! Bum, bum, 
a-bum I” 


AT THE TOY SHOP DOOR 


O N Christmas Day the little boy who 
had the velocipede thought he would 
like to take the Toy-Lady a present. 
His mother had hung a piece of holly on the 
front door of his home, there were three 
wreaths in the parlor windows for the Three 
Wise Men who came to see Jesus, and one 
beautiful little wreath in the nursery window 
for the Baby Jesus Himself. So the little boy 
thought it would be nice if the Toy-Lady had 
a branch of holly to hang on the Toy Shop 
door. 

He asked Cook to give him the holly, but 
he did not tell her or anyone else what he was 


IS2 


AT THE TOY SHOP DOOR 153 

going to do with it. But when he went out 
to ride on his velocipede Christmas afternoon, 
he took the bunch of holly and started off to 
the Toy Shop. 

He did not have far to go, but when he got 
to the Shop nobody was there. The window- 
shade was pulled down and the door was 
closed and locked! 

Right in the middle of the door there was a 
square of white cardboard with something 
printed on it, but the little boy could not read 
it. He stood looking at it and feeling sad and 
lonely. The Toy Shop closed! Why, he 
didn’t know what to think or do! 

But while he was still on the steps, a big 
jolly policeman passed, and as soon as he saw 
the closed door and the little boy with the 
holly, he knew what the trouble was. 


THE TOY SHOP 


154 

“Never you fear, little man,” said he. “The 
. Toy-Lady, God bless her, has gone to spend 
the day with her grandchildren, but she’ll come 
back. ‘Open to-morrow.’ That’s what the 
card says. We’ll just be hanging the bit of 
holly on the door for a surprise to her in the 
morning. What do you say?” 

The little boy said, “All right”; and he be¬ 
gan to feel happier. 

“She’ll see it the first thing,” he said when 
the holly was tied to the door-latch with a piece 
of string from the policeman’s pocket. The 
little boy thought the green leaves and red 
berries looked beautiful there. 

“I’m glad the door will be open to-morrow. 
Aren’t you?” he asked as he got on his veloci¬ 
pede again. 

“I am for a fact,” said the big jolly police- 



“ ‘Open To-morrow.’ That’s What the Card Says.” 

Page 154 

155 


























































































AT THE TOY SHOP DOOR 157 

man. “There’s many a thing that we could 
do without and never miss, but I don’t know 
whatever the children would do without the 
Toy Shop.” 





MUSIC FOR GAME IN “THE BALL 
THAT WENT TO A PARTY.” 


The air to which the words of the song, “The 
prettiest tree, etc,’’ have been set is adapted from an 
old plantation game: “Skip to my Lou.” 


m 


fr— 




The pre - ti - est tree that ev - er was seen. The 



pre - ti - est tree that ev - er was seen. The 



pre - ti - est tree of em - er - aid green. 



n—r- 

(• 

— 

—— m - ^ - 




«J 

^- 

- m- - 

-•- 

-u 


Bird - ie, fly to me, oh! 


158 


















































































































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